


Bonds

by IChallengeMyFate (Ealdremen)



Series: Missing Link [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-02-18
Packaged: 2018-03-13 06:11:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3370781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ealdremen/pseuds/IChallengeMyFate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A great deal has been said about invisible bonds and the people they tie together, but what happens when there's a link missing from the chain? Or, perhaps, when there's one link too many?</p><p>Those were the two futures they could choose from, it seemed -- one where Robin was missing, and one where she and Lucina remained linked together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Traitor

**Author's Note:**

> "Missing Link" is my pet project exploring some nuances and implications of Fire Emblem: Awakening's different endings in the context of Lucina and female Robin's relationship, specifically the idea of alternate timelines and different futures and what it means for the people in them -- what stays the same and what changes. 
> 
> "Bonds" is essentially the prologue, setting up and creating context for the remainder of the story. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

_Traitor._

It was a word often ascribed to the one who had killed her father, the one who had betrayed his trust and brought on the return of Grima. Traitor was the title reserved for someone who had done something truly unforgivable. Never did Lucina think it would be a word she applied to herself as well.

And yet it was what came to mind when she considered her relationship with Robin, the very traitor who had caused that dire future.

In the darkness of their shared tent, Lucina stared ahead, straining her eyes to focus on the battered Falchion laying atop Robin's coat. The urge to move, to leave, to do _anything_ was overwhelming, but Robin was sleeping peacefully beside her – a rarity, given how often she was up late trying to plan for inevitable battles and keeping inventory of the army's rapidly-diminishing supplies. There were all too many nights where Lucina slept alone and woke up early the next day to find Robin was still awake. The dark circles under her eyes only grew more pronounced with each passing day, her hair more bedraggled, her steps more sluggish and fatigued.

The least Lucina could do was ensure that when Robin did manage to fall asleep, she wasn't alone, and she wasn't woken for anything.

After all, this Robin hadn't betrayed anyone. If anything, the warning Lucina had brought from the future had ensured Robin would never be the traitor she was in Lucina's time.

But Lucina _,_ on the other hand...

She had told so many people she would do anything to secure a brighter future for them all. No matter the cost, they would defeat Grima once and for all. The future that they had come from would just be a nightmare the world once had – something that had never been real, however horrific it was. That was what she swore, raising her dead father's blade to the sunlight and leading what remained of the apocalypse's survivors through the Outrealm Gate.

And rather than follow through on that promise, here she was laying next to the woman who was both the problem and solution to all of this. Everything she and her friends had suffered was because of Grima. If Robin died, it would be over. There would be no repeat of her future. That was what she had told herself to justify killing Robin.

The scene was familiar to her now – she saw it all too often, but especially when the nights grew quiet. Falchion's tip pointed at Robin's throat, Robin standing down and deciding that her life was forfeit if living meant Grima would return –

It would have taken a single slash. Never again would Lucina have had an easier target. Even a mortally-wounded Risen could fight back. Robin would not.

Instead, Falchion had slipped from her grasp, and she had fallen to the ground beside it in tears. She couldn't recall a time she had wept more bitterly, staring at her wretched reflection in the sword.

In that moment, she was a traitor to all of them. She had betrayed Robin's trust by being that close to killing her, and she had betrayed the people of her future by not following through.

But Robin had reached down to her and pulled her to her feet. With Falchion still discarded on the ground, Robin had embraced her. It took her several moments to realize that Robin was also crying.

“I knew I could trust you,” Robin had said after a pause.

_You can't._

Robin pulled back, brushing some of Lucina's hair out of her eyes before resting her hands on her shoulders. “Lucina, please look at me.”

_I can't._

“We can make a better future – together.”

_We can't._

Everything they had learned thus far about Grima only reaffirmed those fears. It felt as though a world without Grima and a world with Robin were mutually exclusive, two sides of the same coin. They could only have one or the other. For Grima to be gone, Robin also couldn't be there.

Her hands tightened, clenching the worn blanket between her fingers, and Lucina felt Robin shift beside her. Alarmed that she had woken her up, she craned her head. In the dark, she saw Robin's eyes half-open.

“I apologize,” Lucina whispered. “I didn't mean to wake you.”

Robin mumbled something Lucina didn't quite catch and shook her head. Wordlessly now, Robin pulled Lucina close and threw her arm around her middle. Despite herself, Lucina felt a small smile form on her face.

“That's better,” said Robin, speech slurred with drowsiness. “You should sleep, too. Alright?”

Lucina nearly felt her gaze drift back towards where she'd been staring earlier at the Falchion and Robin's coat, but she shook it off.

“Alright,” she said. “...Thank you.”

Robin kissed her forehead and laid her head down again. Within a few moments, it seemed she was fast asleep again. Lucina closed her eyes with a soft sigh.

Perhaps tomorrow would bring them a solution to all of this.


	2. Two Futures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A timeline's apex is at the most critical of decisions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter for the first part of "Missing Link".

The Fell Dragon's body heaved with every beat of its wings. Lucina gripped the hilt of her sword tighter and stepped back. Another wave of Risen, moving eerily in sync with the monstrosity that spawned them, drew closer. Their steps weren't hampered by Grima's body lurching in flight – not like the rest of them, subjected to the whims of the dragon's erratic flight pattern.

Owain stepped closer to her, sweat beading on his forehead. He wiped it off quickly. “There's no end to this beast's forces.”

“They're relentless,” Lucina agreed with a nod. The words “just like home” hung between them. “But if we falter...”

“A true hero doesn't even know the _meaning_ of the word 'falter'!” he scoffed. Owain widened his stance and pointed his curved sword at the nearest Risen. “And none of these creatures are a match for the hero Owain or his allies!”

Violet smoke exuded from the Risen's mouth as it staggered closer to them. The axe it held dragged against the ground. The hideous grinding screech rang in Lucina's ears as it lifted the axe, ready to engage them. She took a deep breath and steeled herself –

A cry of pain tore through Grima. Every fiber of the dragon's body seemed to reverberate beneath them. Lucina staggered, barely managing to hold her own and not fall over. Owain fared little better, grabbing one of the Fell Dragon's spines with his free hand to maintain balance.

“What was that? Another one of the dragon's traps–?!” Owain's outburst was cut off by another screech.

Lucina whipped around – towards where the dragon's head was. Though the curve of the dragon's body made it hard to see what was going on, Grima – its enormous neck craned to turn around – was staring down at something at its shoulders. Her thoughts first went to her father; had he been able to reach where Grima's gaze now bore down? Was he going to seal away Grima as he said he would?

But she could see Chrom contending with a Risen not too far from where she was. His frantic glances towards Grima's head told her that he had realized it, too. He stabbed the Risen through the gut. The Falchion dragged through its body, and it dissipated into smoke carried away by the winds whirling around them. It had barely vanished before Chrom was hurrying towards Grima's head.

For a moment, Lucina could feel her heart stop. If Chrom wasn't at Grima's head, then there was only one other person who could have caused the dragon such pain.

She turned to Owain. “We have to go! Robin is–”

Owain scowled at the Risen, their approach briefly halted by their master's distress. He sheathed his sword and turned to run with her. What Robin had told her before they left to confront Grima thudded in her head.

_Only Grima can slay Grima._

As she ran past the others in their army, also holding their ground in the face of the Risen, she dimly realized Owain had stopped to rejoin them and was no longer running with her. Perhaps it was just as well – should the Risen attack again, it was best that Owain wasn't alone and instead was helping the others.

She ascended the dragon's ridged back, and her heart stopped.

It was as though there were a mirror between Robin and Grima – the “advisor” they had met in Plegia was on the ground, clearly wounded. Though Lucina knew it wasn't Robin, it was hard not to be alarmed all the same by the blood spurting from someone who shared her face. The real Robin was barely standing, supported by Chrom. Even from afar, Lucina could tell that Robin was also wounded. Her legs were shaking, and had Chrom not been there, she likely would be collapsed just as Grima's avatar was.

“Robin! Father!” Lucina called out, rushing towards them. All three, including Grima's avatar, looked up at her approach.

“Lucina!” There was relief in Chrom's voice, but Robin, on the other hand –

“Lucina, get back!” The strained cry made Lucina halt for a moment, but she redoubled her efforts to reach them just as quickly.

Robin's face was contorted in pain, her hair was matted with blood against her forehead. Up closer now, Lucina could see that Grima had scored more than a few lucky hits on Robin in their fight. Her coat was singed in several places; blood stained the coat's golden trim and her white trousers' legs.

Lucina flinched at the sight, and she gently reached out to brush Robin's hair aside. There was a gash across her head, hidden by her hair.

“Keep Robin stable while I take care of Grima!” Chrom said, raising his voice to be heard over the beating of Grima's wings. The gleaming Falchion was sheathed at his hip, likely stowed away so he could better keep Robin upright.

“You can't be serious,” snarled Robin. She weakly lurched forward to break free of Chrom's grip. “This is the only way, Chrom. If we don't get rid of Grima now, he'll just come back!”

Pleadingly, Chrom looked to Lucina, and Robin gave her a similar look. Her heart skipped several beats as she realized what they were both silently asking her. To convince the other of their position. To hold Robin back, or to let her go. To trade one future for another.

Robin was correct. Even if Grima only returned many generations from now, it was still only postponing the inevitable. Others would have to live with the choice they made now – to live in a future just like what Lucina had endured. Only this time, there might not necessarily be hope of reverting it. What if a thousand years from now, Falchion and the Fire Emblem were lost, or Grima had no avatar to destroy it for good?

And yet that selfish part of her – that treacherous traitor who thought of herself rather than her own promise to stop Grima at any cost – saw how easy it would be to take Robin from Chrom and let him seal away Grima. Maybe that had all been wrong. Maybe there was another way Grima could be destroyed for good, or they could leave documents for later generations to tell them how to continue this cycle of imprisoning Grima. They could leave the Falchion and gemstones with their manakete friends for safekeeping.

A better future for the world, or a better future for herself.

Chrom staggered back, crying out in pain. Lucina gasped – Robin's hands had sparks leaping between the fingers. Chrom clearly wasn't wounded, but taken aback by the tiny jolt of magic – enough to release Robin. She staggered towards Grima, away from both of them.

“Lucina,” Robin murmured mid-step. She paused, and a grimace crossed her face. “I...”

Robin's gaze went from her to Grima. Lucina dared not take her eyes off Robin.

“I'm sorry for what I did in your future. It won't happen again... I'm sorry.”

Speechless, her mouth slightly agape, Lucina watched as Robin hobbled closer to where Grima's avatar lay. Chrom, perhaps also resigned to Robin's decision, only stared, his hands slack at his sides. Robin's steps were clumsy and slow, and she stumbled to the ground. Lucina hurried over to her, pulling her to her feet.

“Don't... try to stop me,” warned Robin as Lucina slung Robin's arm over her shoulder. “I don't – I don't want that to be...”

Lucina bit the inside of her cheek. Her eyes traveled back to Chrom, and then to the fallen woman who shared Robin's face. Robin herself was struggling to breathe. There was no more time. She had to decide.

They could break Lucina's promise of stopping Grima no matter what, or break Robin's promise that they would have a better future together.

They would have to choose a world with Grima, or a world with Robin.

There were two futures, and she could not have both.


End file.
